From: Bill Lucy 

In article ,
gary_wiltshire{at}compuserve.com says...

> You actually answered this last couple of paragraphs above.  The
> notion that employers should pay for health insurance got started
> during the wage and price controls in WWII, if I remember correctly as
> a way to get around paying illegally higher wages to attract the few
> available employees.  I'd rather the employer give the money that
> would go to insurance to the employee.  The employees could then join
> "health unions" similar to credit unions.  As a longtime member of the
> Navy Federal Credit Union, I can tell you it's the best thing since
> sliced bread.  In fact, this might be a function that a credit union
> might be interested in picking up.  I'm sure there are laws against
> that, but I already want to curb the power of the State.

I constantly disagree with retirees when they say that their health
insurance should be "free". If it were truly free, I wouldn't see
a state budget for insurance at a little over a billion dollars a year (as
it will be this year).


> Should my employer provide me with a car?

If your employer provides a car, it "magically" turns into income
at the end of the year, according to the IRS.

> Also, employer-paid health care and other benefits discriminate
> against not only gays, but single people as well.

Agreed.

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